Institute for Justice

August 2016, Volume 25, Issue 4

I will never forget meeting with the Archie family in Canton, Mississippi, during our eminent domain case there in 2002. This was a family of very modest means and the state was trying to take its land through eminent domain to give to Nissan to build an auto plant. Once we got involved, Mississippi offered…

The current generation can tell you stories about crawling into the industrial-sized ovens as children (while the ovens were off, of course) and riding the trays like a carousel. Now they work around the clock to keep the bakery going, baking at night and working retail through the day. The family’s nightmare started in May 2013,…

It has often been said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. And it is true: Winning decisive victories is important, but only if you stick around to make sure that the opponent you put down stays down. There may be no better example of this than IJ’s battle against eminent domain abuse. The…

Starting a business should only take an idea and the drive to succeed. But if you want to start a business in Chicago, you need an attorney to help push things through City Hall. When Beckie Mueller left the financial industry to go to fashion school, she had a plan. Beckie would complete school and open…

The stakes for liberty grow greater by the day, and IJ’s mission has never been more critical. Partners Club members play an essential role in driving IJ’s success by contributing $1,000 or more to our efforts each year. Their support forms the backbone of our work, providing more than 75 percent of our funding and enabling IJ to pursue our mission with unprecedented strength…

Shelia Champion’s case is sure to be fresh in the minds of Liberty & Law readers. In the last issue, we let you know about Shelia’s challenge to an Alabama law that made it illegal for her to sell biodegradable caskets and shrouds without obtaining an expensive, unnecessary funeral director’s license and converting her cemetery into a funeral home. Happily, victory…

At IJ, we always have one eye on the bureaucrat, government official or politician we are suing at a given time, and one eye on the future. We are always thinking not just about how we can make people more free today, but about what we can do for liberty tomorrow, next month, next year…

In the last issue of Liberty & Law, we shared our big victory on behalf of African hair braiders in Kentucky, and we are excited to announce another major victory for hair braiders in Iowa. Braiders in the Hawkeye State no longer need to get a government-mandated cosmetology license before they can work and will…